“You have to go, rosa. There’s gonna be a…war. Someone’s gonna die. I can’t let it…be Alesso. Or my brother.”
“What does that mean?” She looks worried. “Are you saying it has to be you?”
I don’t know if they’ll avenge him. Jesus Christ, my head is spinning. I grab the rail. She says, “Please, please Luca. Let’s go back to bed now.”
“If I kill one of theirs first…and scare them…then it might not get far.” I feel cold and strange.
“I think you need to sit down. I’m scared you’re going to fall.”
There’s no way I’m sitting down. I’d never get back up. I can feel her move in closer, wrapping one arm carefully around me. Her hand is on my nape. She lowers my head to her shoulder. “I love you so much, Luca.”
“There’s not a way out. Always…a bad time. And right now…it’s really bad.”
Her hands stroke my hair. “Are you talking about leaving your job?”
I nod.
“Do you want to get out? Would you if you could?”
A groan slips out. It’s because I’m bending over, curled against her.
“What would you do if you could do anything? If you could start all over.”
It feels good—her holding me. I find her belly with my hand, relieved to see it’s still round.
“I want the selfish thing,” I whisper, my head reeling. “The do-over…that doesn’t exist.”
For a long moment, she’s silent. Then she whisper-hisses, “There’s no cameras in the stairwells. Dani told me. She found out from someone she knows who works here. She’s been bringing things up to me, and we meet in a stairwell—so no one sees her either. Luca, can you lift your head and look at my eyes?”
I do—because she asked.
“You look like you’re really tired. It’s been a while since you got medicine. But if I help, do you think you could get down these stairs? There’s a lot of them. Like five flights.”
I’m surprised she thinks we should leave. But I nod.
Her gaze holds mine. “Do you trust me?”
I nod. I’ve got a cold sweat going now—but I trust her.
I swallow as Elise pulls out her cell phone, holding it to her ear, cupping her hand around it as she whispers. I’ve got my eyes on my bare feet, but I hear her murmuring. “Do it a little early. Yes, the south side. On the way…like as you’re pulling up, call and say…in a stairwell…fifth floor… Ree will have to call the second we leave—so tell her right now…say she saw a man get hit. Near the…took the body.” There’s a pause, where my pulse whooshes in my head. “It doesn’t matter if it’s…exactly. Dilla’s car…not breaking laws by leaving. We were going to do this anyway…”
I have the sense of her ending the conversation. Then her hand rubs my back. “We’re going to get out of here. Does that work? You’ve been in here almost four days. They were going to send you home tomorrow, they said—and Dani and I had cooked up this crazy plan to make things…go better. We can do it all right now, if you’re not happy about you and me both being in here.” Her hand is on my forehead, on my cheek. “Do you have a doctor who can see you at home?”
“Yeah.” I try to look like I feel better than I do, so she won’t worry.
“Whew, well that’s good. Our plan kind of hinges on that.” She kisses my chest, right by a bandage. “C’mon…let’s move slow but steady. Lean on me. I’ve got you.”36EliseThe plan is probably insane. But I’m not in the mob. I’m just a D.A. caught up in a star-crossed love affair, trying to help my injured mob boss lover fake his own death—or if not that, at least insinuate his disappearance.
Poor Luca is hanging with me, but I know he’s hurting. I can tell by how he’s breathing, how he moves. I wish I could carry him the way he would me. Instead I’m whispering encouragement as we make it down the last flight of stairs. Then we’re at the ground floor door, and I’m looking into his dazed eyes.
“Dani is going to pick us up in her housekeeper’s car. But first we have to slip out a side door and walk about a fourth of a block.” I take his unhurt hand in mine. “You think that would work?”
He nods once.
“They may be mad at you for leaving, but it’s not a crime or anything.”
“Thank God for that,” he says with an eyeroll, and his face makes me laugh.
“I love you.”
“Love you more.” He puts an arm around me, holding me against him for a second.
“Dani’s got some pain meds left over from a surgery she had a few months back.”
He shakes his head once. “Advil.”
“Okay, mister. You stand here for a second. I’m going to open the door and look for an exit sign out there in the lobby.”